About Time
by le petit lionne
Summary: On Martha's wedding day, the Doctor has something to say. One (maybe two) shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a little one (maybe two, actually) shot that struck me during the last leg of a mini road trip from Syracuse. ****_Maddy Lake Deep's fic Regrets _****actually planted a tiny seed and this idea just grew around it (not to mention I was on my way from a wedding so that was still floating around in my head). Hope you guys enjoy!**

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**About Time**

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It had been years -literally years- since she'd seen him.

'_And he decided today, of all days, was the best day to pop up?'_ She thought bitterly with arms folded as she waited outside the still materializing vehicle. Martha shifted her weight onto one hip and donned her best "Seriously?!" face. She stood in a white corset with matching knickers, white garters, white stockings and white satin pumps. Before she heard the unearthly racket that heralded the TARDIS's arrival, she'd been staring at the ornate white dress- still deciding whether or not to put it on. Still waiting for a sign that she was making the right decision.

She waited outside the TARDIS wondering if this was the sign she was waiting for: would her spiky-haired god _finally_ give his blessing? Or would he sweep her away again? (Something she desperately hoped for but would never admit.)

What she was greeted with was not a spiky-haired god at all, but a mop of unruly brown hair and piercing green eyes that flitted nervously around the room.

"Huh, silly old ship, we were aiming for the part where they ask if anyone has any objections..." He trailed off.

He didn't look at, or acknowledge her as he looked around. But even though she didn't recognize his face, she recognized his _'I've got to be talking to myself because nobody knows what insanity is going through my head right now'_ voice anywhere. However, that did nothing to quell her astonishment at the otherwise unrecognizable man.

He finally looked at her. And when he did, it was directly into her eyes. "Hello, Martha Jones." His smile was warm and inviting, but Martha stood gaping. After a moment of silence- stunned for her, awkward for him- he spoke again.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here. Didn't exactly RSVP... "He said, fussing with his hands as he was apt to do in this body. For his part, he tried his best to play it cool. What he was about to say would be difficult for him to say, and even more difficult for her to hear. But he recently heard something that had made it impossible for him _not_ to say.

_"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick? Then there's other people, when you meet them you think, "Not bad. They're okay." And then you get to know them and... and their face just sort of becomes them. Like their personality's written all over it. And they just turn into something so beautiful... Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met."_

Martha's personality has been written all over her face from the moment he met her. Her inquisitive nature, her patience, her boundless energy, her determination, her 'take-no-prisoners' attitude... these things paired with bright eyes, full lips, radiant caramel skin and dangerous curves; all of this power packed into a single compact figure culminated into one Doctor Martha Jones who, done wrong by his younger self, flourished in spite of him. Doctor Martha Jones, who finally became the woman she was destined to be.

Almost 200 years older now, he reckoned that if he would have met her later, or she earlier, depending on how one saw the circumstances of this peculiar case, things would have gone much differently. If only he knew then what he knew now. He was a much different person now. He liked to believe that he was older and wiser. But what he wanted- what he _needed_- was so clear to him now that he couldn't believe that he'd missed it before.

"Well, uhh... I've been, well, thinking about you. A lot, actually, as of late. And... And, who decides to have a wedding in the middle of the summer? You're not hot?"

Talking about heavy subjects? Avert. Always avert. Always his best tactic. He was a bit warm, but that had nothing to do with New York's mid-summer heat; The Doctor was actually nervous. He took off his jacket and threw it on the back of a nearby chair in true Doctor fashion. He looked to Martha from the side of his eye. She was no longer gawking, but now staring with that age old curiosity of hers.

"You're not going to make this easy are you? She warned me that you wouldn't, you know. The TARDIS. I figured she was just being a smart ass, but deep down I think I knew. "

"Knew what?" They were the first words she'd spoken.

"That you'd come here with that new face planning to interrupt and ultimately object to my wedding for some reason that has yet to be revealed... You didn't think I'd make things hard for you?" She crossed her arms again, but there was something in her tone that took the threat out. A question that begged for an answer. Not unlike his own question.

He stood before her, feeling as naked as the day he was born before her gaze. "Why are you doing this? Why are you marrying him?" Martha didn't reply. She just leaned against the desk and took a sudden interest in the floor tiles, letting out a puff of air.

"He'll never truly understand. He'll never know the real you. You'll be living a lie."

"We'll what's the alternative? Living alone?" She asked in a tone that broke his hearts.

"Living with me" he unfolded her arms and held her hands in his. "Permanently. Or for as long as you'll have me."

Her head snapped up and her eyes met his once again. She could distantly hear her mother's pleas to open the door having heard the TARDIS materialize. Mrs. Milligan's shrill voice echoed through the door as well but the only thing that mattered at that moment was the two of them. One Time Lord, one human, and three hearts between them.

"Why?" She asked quietly. He took her face in his hands.

"Martha, There isn't one day that has passed that I don't regret not doing something- _anything_-to make you stay. I felt I'd lost the right. I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd lost you. But I'm a new man now. A different man. And I believe that this-" he said, working his jaw and gearing up for the hardest part. "Martha this, you and me, we were meant to happen. I know it seems crazy. Absurd really. I say that I don't believe in coincidence and I don't believe in fate. But this isn't fate. This isn't coincidence. This is _time_. Our timelines have been jumbled for quite some time. But I can see it now. Other stuff... Namely my own stubbornness was in the way mucking up the timelines, but it's here. Clear as day inside my head that you belong with me. We were just a product of… of bad timing."

She seemed to be taking it all in. And he wouldn't be surprised if she kicked him out, donned the dress and became Mrs. Thomas Milligan based on this conversation alone. He had to try, and he'd never been good at keeping things from her.

"When I see these events unravel, you're there. You're always there. You're by my side. You just... fit. You've been in my hearts and in my head for a long time now, Martha."

His hands were still on her face, holding her so that she had no choice but to look in his eyes and see the truth reflected there. "I love you."  
She leaned into his touch. She'd never seen the man before, but she knew instantly that this was a man she could love forever. She had already loved him to the end of time and back and she would love him to infinity. No amount of rings or flowers or white fabric would ever change that.

Suddenly, in the light of his admission, the dress, the ceremony, even the groom seemed less important.

"I love you too" She whispered. He smiled gently before capturing her lips in his. If his arrival wasn't the sign that she'd been looking for, then the fluttering in her heart definitely was.

"But wait. What about your companion? This isn't just because you're traveling alone is it?"

"Of course it isn't! I may be a daft old alien but I'm not stupid!" She sighed with relief.

"There are two of them. Amy and Rory Pond"

"And they're ok with this? You bringing me aboard?"

"Of course they are! Well they will be once I tell them. Well... Rory will. You'll like Rory and Rory will like you. Amy... Well Amy's another story"

"You haven't told them that you were planning on bringing another person aboard?"

"They were sleeping. You know humans. You need all those hours of sleep." He said fussing with his hands again. He couldn't conceal his smile. Soon, neither could she.

"And they also must be ok with your questionable taste" Martha said, cocking an amused brow at his bow tie.

"I'll have you know, Doctor Jones, that bow ties are cool." The Doctor said, taking her hands in his and working off her engagement ring.

"And these?" She said, sliding her hands up his chest to pull at his braces and snapping then back against his slim torso.

"Oi!" He said, rubbing away the sting. He shrugged his jacket back on and snapped his fingers causing the TARDIS doors to creak open. Suddenly, he scooped her into his arm.

"Now, Miss Jones. Let's get you into something a bit more... Red" he said as he carried her over the threshold, leaving the white dress and ring behind.

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**In hindsight, if you're looking for a sign that you should or shouldn't marry someone that's probably a sign in and of itself that you shouldn't marry that person. Right?**

**This was super fun to write and I hope you liked it! I'm dreaming up a part II now, with the help of ****_Sheena Is A Punk Rocker._**

**In the meantime, review! Tell me what you think!**

**xoxo, LPL**


	2. Chapter 2

**Look Guys! I'm not dead! I know it's been a ****very**** long time and I'm not even going to pretend that it was worth the wait. (I mean don't get me wrong: its good, but is it worth months of waiting for me to update something? That's for you to decide.) ANYWAY... This is the 2nd and final installment of this fic and you may notice that, unlike my other works,****_ About Time_**** is noticeably lacking in sexytime. Fear not, my fellow pervs. As I post this update, an M rated alternate ending is also being posted. If that's the one you want, find it on my profile. (Though I encourage you to read and review both!)**

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**About Time: II**

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Amy and Rory awoke to the sweet aroma of bacon.

"What's the occasion?" Rory asked in a drowsy haze. "The Doctor hardly ever cooks."

The couple made their way down the winding corridor that lead to the kitchen. "Doctor! That smells-"

Amy stopped short just after entering the kitchen. What she found was not, in fact, the Doctor- but a very petite brown-skinned woman. The stranger was standing at the stove humming a tune wearing only what Amy quickly realized was the Doctor's dress shirt. The woman stopped humming when she saw the shocked couple. "Oh! Hello!"

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing here?!" Amy said, picking up the only weapon at her disposal: a hand mixer that had been sitting in a bowl of batter. The intruder seemed unthreatened.

"Martha Jones. And you must be Amy and Rory."

"That still doesn't answer the question." Amy said. "Why. Are. You. Here?"

Rory simply rolled his eyes and sat at the table.

"Well, the Doctor sort of… picked me up." Martha said, sitting the plate, piled high with bacon, on the table.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Jones." Said Rory, crunching on a piece of perfectly cooked bacon. This earned him a swat on the head from Amy, then another when she realized that he'd been staring at the mystery woman's legs.

"Stop eating that! It could be poison! We don't even know who she really is."

"Hello! Right here!" Martha said with amusement, starting on the French toast.

"Amy, look at her. I don't think she's here to kill us. Plus: she wouldn't poison the bacon. That's' just beyond evil!" He said, picking up another piece in outright rebellion.

"Yeah, well she wouldn't be the first scantily clad alien menace that we've met now would she?"

"Speaking of which…" They heard Martha mutter, and soon they saw what she was referring to. In shuffled a very sleepy-looking Doctor, dressed only from the waist down (sans shoes), rubbing the last remnants of slumber from his eyes.

"Doctor, what's going on here? Who is this woman?" Amy asked, pointing the mixer accusingly at Martha.

"Oh, I see you've already been acquainted then." He said as he lowered Amy's mixer-wielding hand. He kissed her on the cheek and ruffled Rory's hair as he passed, not stopping until he got to Martha- to whom he granted her a lingering kiss on the lips- to the surprise of his companions.

"Ummm… Is there something you'd like to tell us, Doctor?" Rory asked.

"Well, yes. This is Dr. Martha Jones. She will be traveling with us and, I suppose, in Earth terms she would be my girlfriend."

In a comical display of shock, the hand mixer and half of a piece of bacon dropped to the floor in unison. Rory was quick to recover; clearing his throat but saying nothing as he sought a replacement for his salty treat. Amy, however, was not so easily quieted.

"Girlfriend?! What? If she's so important all of the sudden, why haven't we heard of her? You've never even mentioned her!"

'Well, not to you…" Rory muttered, not looking up from the stack of French toast Martha had sat in front of him for fear of Amy's wrath. When he could no longer stand the hole Amy was burning through his skull, he finally worked up the nerve to meet her gaze. "What? Guys talk!"

While Amy gawked at her husband with shock and betrayal, The Doctor responded.

"Yes. My girlfriend. And it's hardly 'all of the sudden'." He said, leaning against the countertop. "I've known her for almost 10 years."

"Really? That's how long it's been for you?" Martha interjected, looking up from the second batch of French toast.

"Aren't you forgetting something? Like, gee… well, I don't know. YOUR WIFE?!" Amy shouted in pure outrage.

"Wife?" Martha exclaimed, though there wasn't as much anger as one might have expected, given the situation. In fact, the Doctor could sense the slightest bit of humor in her voice.

"Yes. Wife." Amy fired back. "Our daughter." She pointed back and forth between Rory and herself for emphasis.

"Their daughter? Doctor… that's just… wrong. You married their daughter?"

"It's a long story. River's not as young as you might be thinking." Rory replied, as the Doctor tried in vain to rub away the oncoming headache starting to form at his temples.

"Yes. River. Or have you forgotten?" Amy shot her words like pellets at the new couple- crossing her arms across her chest and refusing to eat any of Martha's cooking.

"Of course I haven't forgotten! I was just hoping to broach the subject with a bit more….tact." He said, shooting a look right back at Amy.

"Well, a good time would have been about 12 Earth hours ago when you said all of those lovely things and talked me out of marrying Tom." She smirked at him, knowing full well that it hadn't taken much to persuade her in the first place.

"You left your own wedding for another man?" Amy stood, her face twisted into a mask of short-lived disgust.

Short-lived because at that, both the Doctor and Rory let out their own cries of indignation, both speaking at the same time and so loudly that both women were taken aback.

"Glass houses, Pond!" The Doctor exclaimed, while Rory just shook his head saying, "You've got to be bloody kidding me!"

Rory continued, "You left with _Him_ the night before our wedding for who knows how long! It took me dying, TWICE, for us to actually tie the knot!" While Amy and Rory argued, Martha stifled a giggle while muttering about their unique lots in life before putting the pieces together in her head.

"Wait. Your wife's name is River?" He nodded and she instructed for him to wait there. She came back with a blue book in her hand.

"I went back to my old room this morning and this was laying on the pillow. It was wrapped with a bow and everything. It's a journal."

At this, the arguing stopped and everyone tuned in to what Martha was saying.

She handed the book over to the Doctor, who flipped through it, noting the blank pages. When he got back to page one, Martha pointed out the writing. The Doctor read the looping, feminine script aloud:

_Sorry to hear about the failure of your nuptial arrangement, but I think you'll find _this_ arrangement much more fulfilling. _

_Love, River_

_PS- Hope you don't mind if I skip ahead to the fun part._

The Doctor snapped the book shut with finality. As far as he was concerned, all bases had been covered: Martha was here and they were in love, River was wherever she was and _they_ were in love, and apparently his two loves were very well acquainted- given the tone of River's message. There was no more conversation to be had on the matter.

"This is bloody ridiculous." Amy muttered, her anger finally giving way to her hunger. Eventually, she even conceded that Martha's cooking "wasn't terrible". Given how the morning started, Martha saw this as progress.

She and Rory talked modern medicine and all of the aliens she'd operated on before he and Amy left the room. That left only her and the Doctor in the kitchen.

"So, your wife, huh?" Martha said, gathering the dirty dishes and running warm water in the sink.

"Yeah, long story." He said, coming to her side to dry the wet plate that she handed him. It was all a bit domestic, and more than a bit unnecessary, he thought. The TARDIS would take care of the dishes, but he went along anyway. "A long story that you will know in its entirety one day. We can talk about it later. Besides, it would seem that you and my wife get along quite well." He added with a smirk.

She turned to him with her hands still wet and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yes, it would seem." She tossed a sexy smirk back at him. "Can't wait to meet her."

"Well, unfortunately, while she can _skip ahead to the fun part,_" he said, pulling her close, pressing his body against hers. "We have to take the scenic route."

"Well then. We might as well have some fun on the way!" Martha giggled as he lifted her onto the counter. As their lips met, the world melted away.

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**AGAIN:** **If you're looking for smut, you won't find it here... It's in a different post. Check out my profile for that one.**


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